My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

Hemorrhagic strokes account for about 17% of strokes and are more likely to be fatal than an ischemic stroke. Hemorrhagic strokes are the result of a hemorrhage in the brain which causes blood to leak out of blood vessels and comes into direct contact with the brain, causing neurons to die in the process.

An arteriovenous malformation is a particular type of hemorrhagic stroke, which affects people who have malformed blood vessels. This condition means that the patient does not have a “buffering capillary” to ease pressure between blood veins and arteries. This high pressure results in the vein breaking open, triggering blood leakage directly onto the brain. This rare type of stroke is what Dr. Taylor experiences in her memoir.

The human brain’s left hemisphere is responsible for functions such as speaking and understanding language, maintaining “brain chatter”(inner monologue), and supporting linear thinking, such as time management and task execution. Taylor frequently mentions the role of the left hemisphere in our daily functions since her stroke occurred in this region of the brain, causing her to experience impairment in language and communication, linear thinking, maintaining her ego and individuality, and mobility.

The human brain’s right hemisphere enables us to perform “big-picture thinking,” interpret people’s tone and body language, store vivid memories with sensory information, and generate empathy and other emotions. After Dr. Taylor’s stroke, her brain’s right hemisphere became much more dominant than her injured left hemisphere, resulting in heightened empathy, feelings of timelessness or infinity, and being herself to be indistinguishable from other people and the universe itself.